It is desired that you will report the result of your proceedings to the Department with as little delay as convenient. I am, &c., JAMES G. BLAINE. Inclosure 1 in No. 172.] Mr. Randall to Mr. Blaine. PHILADELPHIA, PA., May 30, 1881. SIR: Some days ago I called to see you at the State Department, in company with Mr. Thomas Horan, of Philadelphia, in reference to the imprisonment in Ireland of James B. Walsh, an American citizen. He was placed in prison in Dublin, on or about March 3, 1881, for alleged offense against the British law known as the coercion act. As to the particulars of the charge under which Walsh is confined his friends in this country are uninformed, as his uncle, the aforementioned Mr. Horan states to me. The proof of his American citizenship I herewith inclose in form of a duplicate naturalization certificate, properly authenticated. The original was issued on the 16th day of October, 1875, from the superior court of the city of New York. In the interview alluded to, you expressed your entire willingness, in case Walsh's American citizenship was established, to intercede with the Government of Great Britain, with all the influence of the high office you hold. I urge your early communication with the British minister at Washington, that all the facts in the case may be known and an early release of Walsh secured. Very respectfully, &c., [Inclosure 2 in No. 172.] SAM. J. RANDALL. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, State of New York, City and County of New York, 88: Be it remembered that on the 16th day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, Joseph B. Walsh appeared in the superior court of the city of New York (the said court being a court of record, having common-law jurisdiction and a clerk and seal), and applied to the said court to be admitted to become a citizen of the United States of America, pursuant to the provisions of the several acts of the Congress of the United States of America for that purpose made and provided. And the said applicant having thereupon produced to the court such evidence, made such declaration and renunciation, and taken such oaths as are by the said acts required-(Duplicate); Thereupon, it was ordered by the said court, that the said applicant be admitted, and he was accordingly admitted by the said court to be a citizen of the United States. In testimony whereof the seal of the said court is hereunto affixed, this twenty-seventh day of April one thousand eight hundred and eighty-one, and in the one hundred and fifth year of our Independence. By the court. [SEAL.] THOMAS BOESE, Clerk. No. 9.. Mr. Lowell to Mr. Blaine. [Extract.] No. 193.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, London, June 4, 1881. (Received June 16.) SIR: I have the honor to acquaint you that, immediately on receiving your telegram relating to the case of Mr. Walsh, I went over to the foreign office and had an interview with Lord Granville. I told him the purport of the dispatch, and said that he would of course understand the solicitude felt by the Government of the United States, in view of the application to American citizens of unusual methods of procedure, and that the President would expect for such citizens arrested under the terms of the protection act either a speedy trial or a prompt discharge. I had informed Lord Granville that written instructions were on the way. He replied that as it was not easy for him to understand on what grounds of international law my government would base its claim that American citizens should be treated better than British subjects, when both had exposed themselves to the operation of an act of Parliament, he should prefer not to give me any more definite answer until I was more fully instructed from home. Lord Granville was to leave town at half past four, and as there was barely ten minutes left for him to reach the station, there was no time for longer discussion. Mr. Walsh, as I learn from the letter of Mr. Barrows, our consul at Dublin, is a liquor-dealer at Castlebar, county Mayo, was a poor-law guardian and town commissioner there, and seems to have acted in all respects as if he were a British subject until his arrest. I was naturally guided in the language I used in my interview with Lord Granville by the terms of your previous telegram, relating to Dalton, received on the 26th May. Without definite instructions I did not think it prudent to enter a formal protest against Mr. Walsh's arrest. I may add that I have as yet received no proof of Dalton's citizenship. I have, &c., J. R. LOWELL. No. 194.] No. 10. Mr. Lowell to Mr. Blaine. [Extract.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, London, June 4, 1881. (Received June 16.) SIR: * I think that the necessity of a radical and prompt reform in the relations of landlord and tenant in Ireland is forcing conviction into the mind of even the conservative party; though the violence of language and the incitement to violence of action on the part of those who claim to be the true friends of Ireland are doing much to endanger the success of remedial measures. Dennis Hayes O'Connor called upon me the other day. He said that he was naturalized in 1875 at Baltimore, and going over to Ireland immediately after on the plea that his health could not resist the American climate. He is now, at least, a remarkably robust and florid man. He told me that he was a draper in Charleville, county Cork, and that hearing a warrant was out for his arrest, he had come over to London to claim my protection. He had been acting as treasurer of the Land League in that place. He professed not to know on what grounds the warrant had been issued, but I satisfied myself in the course of our conversation that he knew perfectly well that it was for seditious language and incitement to violence. He favored me with a good deal of this sort of rhetoric with a manner that implied no earnestness of conviction and as if repeating something he had learned by rote. He several times repeated that the "Best thing would be a war between England and the United States." After hearing this man's talk my belief was that he had purposely exposed himself to the chances of arrest in the hope of adding to the difficulties of the government. I asked him if he had considered the enormous interest at stake, quite apart from any moral consideration, and that England was our greatest customer for cattle, corn, and cotton. He merely repeated what he had said before as to the desirability of war. O'Connor declared that he meant to return to America whenever his health would permit; but admitted that it would take at least five years to wind up his business, and, I think, his intention may fairly be questioned. As he declared bimself ready to be quiet for the future, if not arrested, I thought it prudent to mention his name unofficially to Lord Granville, and to suggest that the warrant should not be put in force unless further offense were given. I have spoken at some length of his case, because I think it of some importance that the Department should be informed as to the kind of persons who may ask its intervention, and as to the doctrines they preach. Under ordinary circumstances they would be harmless, and are made mischievous only by the excited state of the country. My own judgment is that the ministry have gone to the extreme limit of public opinion in their concessions to Irish necessities; that they are perfectly honest in their desire to be generously just; and that the best friends of Ireland are not those who, however sincerely, throw obstacles in their way. The real cure, which I believe to be a larger measure of home rule, will be made easier by the better state of things which, in the opinion of those best competent to judge, is likely to result from the passage of the land bill. I have the honor, &c., No. 11. J. R. LOWELL. No. 1158.] Mr. Badeau to Mr. Hitt. UNITED STATES CONSULATE-GENERAL, London, June 17, 1881. (Received June 30.) SIR: Referring to dispatch No. 30 from the consul at Cork, of June 15 instant, relative to the arrest of one Henry O. Mohoney, claiming to be a citizen of the United States, "suspected of shooting with intent to commit murder," which dispatch is this day forwarded through this consulate-general; I have the honor to state that I have forwarded a copy of the consul's letter to me of June 15, with inclosures to the United States minister at this place for his information, and have commended the tact and discretion displayed by the consul in the premises. I am, sir, &c., ADAM BADEAU, No. 205.] No. 12. Mr. Lowell to Mr. Blaine. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, London, June 18, 1881. (Received June 30.) SIR Referring to your instruction No. 168, of the 27th ultimo, I have the honor to say that I have not yet received from Mr. Consul Barrows any information with regard to the citizenship of Mr. D'Alton. On reception of your instruction No. 166, of the 26th ultimo, laying down the general course of action which I am to pursue with regard to American citizens arrested in Ireland under the coercion act, I thought it proper without waiting for special directions from you with regard to the case of Mr. Walsh, to address a note to Lord Granville requesting a copy of the warrant under which the arrest was made, asking to be informed of the particulars of the charge against him, and calling attention to the fact that Mr. Walsh had already suffered three months' imprisonment. I have not yet received an answer to that letter. I am glad to see that by this action I anticipated the instructions contained in your No. 172, of the 2d instant, regarding Mr. Walsh's case. I have, &c., J. R. LOWELL. No. 218.] No. 13. Mr. Lowell to Mr. Blaine. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, London, July 15, 1881. (Received July 28.) SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the reception of your instruetion No. 168, in relation to the case of Joseph Dalton, who has been arrested under the so-called "coercion act.” You also refer me to your No. 166 for directions how to treat his case if his citizenship shall be satisfactorily established, and if the circumstances of his alleged arrest are such as to call for action. As I have received no proofs of his citizenship or statement of the circumstances of his arrest, I have not yet taken any proceedings in relation thereto. I have the honor also to acknowledge the reception of your instruction No. 172, in respect to the case of Joseph B. Walsh, stated to be a citizen of the United States, who appears to have been arrested in March last under the provisions of the act above referred to. You directed me to lose no time in making the necessary inquiries into the case of Mr. Walsh's arrest and detention, intimating the probability that Mr. Barrows, the consul at Dublin, might aid me in this investigation. I accordingly addressed a letter to Lord Granville on the 8th of June on this subject, and on the 29th of that month received a reply from his lordship, inclosing a copy of the warrant on which Mr. Walsh was apprehended. On the 1st day of July instant, I addressed another note to Lord Granville, requesting to be furnished with the details of the charges against Mr. Walsh. On the 9th instant I received a reply from his lordship declining to give any further information on this subject beyond that contained in the warrant itself. I inclose a copy of this correspondence. On the 1st of July instant I wrote to Mr. Barrows, the consul at Dublin, asking him to inquire into the facts of the case and ascertain what specific acts Mr. Walsh had committed since September 30, 1880, to justify the issuing of this warrant. On the 4th instant I received a reply from Mr. Shew, the vice-consul, stating that application had been made for the required details; but he has not, as yet, supplied me with any further information. You state that if I shall find that the circumstances of this case, in the light of your instructions in Nos. 166 and 172, are such as to call for interference on the part of the Government of the United States, I am to make such representations as shall conduce to Walsh's speedy trial, or, in the absence of specific charges, to his speedy release. It will give me great pleasure to communicate to Lord Granville the views you have so clearly and eloquently expressed as to the injustice of some of the features of the so-called "protection act," and especially to its retroactive character; but I would respectfully suggest whether any step would be gained toward the speedy trial or release of Walsh by an argument against the law itself, under which he was apprehended. So long as Lord Granville expressly declines to make any distinction between British subjects and American citizens, in the application of this law, a position which, I presume, may be jus tified by precedents in our own diplomatic history, I submit to your better judgment whether the only arguments I can use in favor of Walsh must not be founded upon some exceptional injustice in the way in which he has been treated. If this shall appear by the report of the consul to have been practiced, I shall press for his trial or release with great earnestness; but if it shall be shown that he has experienced no more harshness than the majority of his fellow prisoners have suffered I do not feel by any means sure that your instructions would authorize me to make any special application on his behalf. I have, &c., [Inclosure 1 in No. 218.] J. R. LOWELL. Mr. Lowell to Lord Granville. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, MY LORD: Referring to the interview which your lordship was kind enough to grant me on the 3d instant, in reference to the case of Joseph B. Walsh, arrested under the coercion act at Castlebar, county Mayo, on the 8th March last, I have now the honor to request that you would, at your convenience, furnish me, in order to my better understanding of the facts of the case, with a copy of the warrant under which he was arrested, and with such particulars as to the offense with which he is charged as may be within your knowledge, Mr. Walsh having furnished me with evidence satisfying me that he is a naturalized citizen of the United States, though I have no reason to think that Her Majesty's Government were aware of the fact when the warrant was issued. As your lordship will observe by the dates, Mr. Walsh has already suffered a threemonths' imprisonment, to the manifest detriment of his affairs, and the President, while anxious not to embarrass in any way the action of a friendly government in dealing with a very difficult and delicate question of domestic policy, cannot but also feel solicitous not to ignore any just claims of American citizens to his intervention in their behalf. I have, &c., J. R. LOWELL. |